The Privacy Foundation at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Hackers Steal Credit Card Data From Up to 40 Million Target Customers, 12/19/2013, mashable.com
Cybercriminals have hit retail store Target with a massive data breach that may have affected 40 million of customers’ credit and debit cards accounts. The breach started around Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year in America, and has reportedly affected roughly 40,000 card devices at registers in Target locations around the country. … In its press release acknowledging the breach, Target said “40 million credit and debit card accounts may have been impacted between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, 2013.”

Ie: High Court orders Quinns to reveal passwords to receiver, 11/10/2012, www.pogowasright.org
In an interesting decision the High Court (Kelly J.) yesterday ordered that members of the Quinn family must provide passwords to personal email accounts and other information to the receiver appointed over their assets by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.

Government of Malta proposes inclusion of digital rights in Constitution, 10/11/2012, www.pogowasright.org
The government has presented a White Paper proposing the inclusion of digital rights in the Constitution as a means of introducing new rights to internet access, accessing information online, online freedom of expression, and the right to informational self-determination.

Where in the world are there data protection laws?, www.pogowasright.org, 10/30/2011
I stand in awe of how much some folks accomplish. Dave Banisar alerts me that he has updated the global map showing which countries have comprehensive data protection laws. The number is now up to 70.

The Latest Privacy Risk? Looking Up Medical And Drug Information Online, 02/24/2015, www.phiprivacy.net
Neil Ungerleider reports: If you have cancer, HIV, diabetes, lupus, depression, heart disease—or you simply look up health-related information online—advertisers are watching you. A new paper on what happens when users search for health information online shows that some of our most sensitive internet searches aren’t as anonymous as we might think.

Fourth Annual Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy and Data Security, 3/22/2014, www.bespacific.com
Ponemon Institute: “…we are releasing our Fourth Annual Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy and Data Security. We hope you will read the report sponsored by ID Experts that reveals some fascinating trends. Specifically, criminal attacks on healthcare systems have risen a startling 100 percent since we first conducted the study in 2010. This year, we found the number and size of data breaches has declined somewhat. Employee negligence is a major risk and is being fueled by BYOD.”

Data Broker Removes Rape-Victims List After Journal Inquiry, 12/19/2013, www.pogowasright.org
If you missed Senator Rockefeller’s hearing on data brokers yesterday, Pam Dixon of the World Privacy Forum made a powerful point in her opening statement about how data brokers have no shame. She cited the fact that brokers were selling lists of rape victims’ names for 7.9 cents per name.

Article: Competition, Consumer Protection, and The Right [Approach] to Privacy, 07/22/2015, _www.pogowasright.org
Many people view Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis’s 1890 work, The Right to Privacy, as the starting point for the consumer privacy laws in the United States. Warren and Brandeis’s concerns about the ability of technology to invade the private sphere continue to resonate today,

Wetware: The Major Data Security Threat You’ve Never Heard Of, 05/14/2015, www.databreaches.net
Adam Levin reports: For the first time, according to a recent study, criminal and state-sponsored hacks have surpassed human error as the leading cause of health care data breaches, and it could be costing the industry as much as $6 billion. With an average organization cost of $2.1 million per breach, the results of the study give rise to a question: How do you define human error?

What Is the Internet of Things?, 04/26/2015, www.bespacific.com
What Is the Internet of Things?, Mike Loukides and Jon Bruner, O’Reilly Media: “The Internet of Things (IoT) is a blending of software and hardware, introducing intelligence and connectedness to objects and adding physical endpoints to software.

New directives on border searches of electronic media, 09/27/09, www.pogowasright.org
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced new directives to enhance and clarify oversight for searches of computers and other electronic media at U.S. ports of entry.

FTC Advises Parents How to Protect Kids’ Personal Information at School, 08/15/2012, www.bespacific.com
A new school year usually means filling out paperwork like registration forms, health forms, and emergency contact forms, to name a few. The Federal Trade Commission wants parents to know that many school forms require personal and sensitive information that, in the wrong hands, could be used to commit fraud in their child’s name.

Stepping Into the Breach, 10/25/2011, www.campustechnology.com
If you think your institution is immune to a security breach, perhaps you should have a chat with Brian Rust at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Student loan company: Data on 3.3M people stolen, 3/27/10, www.databreaches.net
A company that guarantees federal student loans said Friday that personal data on about 3.3 million people nationwide has been stolen from its headquarters in Minnesota.